Translation device



OGL 13 1942- F. A. HUBBARD TRANSLATION DEvIcEs s sheets-sheet 1 Filed May 29, 1941 A /A/ VEA/TOR FRA NC/s A. HUBBARD Oct. 13, 1942. F. A. HUBBARD TRANSLATION DEVICES Filed May 29, 1941 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 WVU/TOR FRANC/5 A. HUBBARD ,9V @15 M A 7` TOR/VE Y Oct. 13, 1942. F. A. HUBBARD TRANSLATION DEVICES Filed May 29, 1941 3 Sheets-Sheet 5 /NvENTo/e FRANC/5' A. HUBBARD ATTORNEY Patented Oct. 13, 1942 TRANSLATION DEYICE Francis A. Hubbard, Maplewood, N. J., assignor to i Bell Telephone Laboratories, Incorporated, New York, N. Y., a corporation of New York Application May 29, 1941, Serial No. 395,719

6 claims.

This invention relates to telephone systems and has for its object to facilitate the handling of calls in large exchange areas.

It is customary in such large areas to establish telephone connections by means of automatic switching equipment under the control of comh mon control equipment. In the crossbar system this control equipment includes senders and markers.

During the establishment of a telephone connection the designation of the wanted line is recorded in a sender which transfers a record of the office designation to a marker. The marker in turn translates this record into a routing by operating a route relay which controls the connection of the calling line to a trunk outgoing to the wanted office: Circuits previously used for the translation of the office designation required the useof a number of multicontactV relays.

In accordance with the present invention, the oiiice designation controls the operation of a route relay by means of a plurality of gas-lled tubes out of which one only becomes operative.

More specifically, each digit of an oice designation is recorded on a register and each register controls the application of the proper potential to different electrodes of a plurality of tubes, selected in accordance with the setting of the register. of which potentials are applied, lires and operates the corresponding route relay.

According to a modified form of the invention, tubes are used, each having a plurality of anodes.

Each anode is connected with a route relay so that any one of a group of route relays may be operated through one tube, means being provided to cause only one anode circuit to become conducting.

The invention will be more clearly understood from a consideration of the following description in connection with the attached drawings, in which:

Fig. 1 shows, in diagrammatic form, a telephone connection from a calling line to an interoiiice trunk, together with a sender and a part of a marker;

Fig. 2 shows the translating equipment; and

Fig. 3 shows a modified form of translating equipment.

A crossbar system of the type to which the present invention is applicable is disclosed in U. S. Patent No. 2,235,803, granted March 18, 1941, to W. W. Carpenter.

The one tube, to the three electrodes wishes to talk with a subscriber located in an oilice reached over trunk ||9 and that the designation of that oice is Clyde which corresponds to a numerical designation of 259.

When the call is originated, the substation is automatically connected to district junctor Assume that the subscriber at substation |00 55 |0| and with sender |02. As soon as the ofIice designation has been recorded, the sender is connected by marker connector |03 to the marker Where the frame and oilice designations are recorded as described in the above-mentioned Carpenter patent. The frame register |06 operates the district link connector |04 to bring the district junctor |0| under the control of the marker. Since the rst office digit was 2, relay I2 of the rst code register ||0 will be operated, connecting ground over the back contact of relay H5, outer right back contact of relay III, left front contact of relay I I 2, middle right back contact of relay III to conductor IIS.

In practice 0 is used for signaling an operator and, therefore, with none of the relays III to I I5 operated, ground is connected over conductor |I8 directly to the operator route relay I0'I. To avoid confusion with accidental interruptions of the circuit, the digit 1 is also not employed as a first ofce digit and conductor II'I, which would be grounded with relay III operated, isnot con nected-to the translator.

The second and third code registers would be the same as register ||0 except that the conductors corresponding to conductors II'I and I|8 would Aalso extend to the translator of Fig. 2. The second code digit register is represented by relay |20 and connects a battery potential of +130 volts to one of ten conductors, for example conductor I 25, leading to the translator. The third code register is represented by relay |30 `and connects a battery potential of volts to one of ten conductors, for example conductor |39, also leading to the translator.

The translator of Fig. 2 consists of eight banks of three-element gas-filled tubes of the cold cathode type. Each bank includes one hundred tubes arranged in ten rows of ten tubes each.

vThe ten conductors from the second code register are connected to the anodes of the tubes, each conductor being multipled to the anodes of eighty tubes or to the anodes of the ten tubes of the corresponding vertical rowof each bank of tubes. For example, conductor |25 is connected to the anodes of tubes 250 to 259, 350 to 359, 950 to 959 and of the corresponding tubes of the banks not shown, all of which have 5 for the tens digit.

The ten conductors from the third code register are connected to the control anodes of the tubes, each conductor being multipled to eighty control anodes through individual current limiting resistances of about 100,000 ohms each. In this case the eighty tubes are made up of one horizontal row of ten tubes in each bank. For example, conductor |39 is connected to the control anodes of tubes 209 to 299, 309 to 399, 909 to 999 and of the corresponding tubes of the banks not shown, all of which have the units digit 9.

The cathode of each tube is connected to the winding of the corresponding route relay, which operates directly from ther anode-cathode current of the tube. One hundred route relay terminals, all those connected to a given bank of tubes, are multipled together and connected to one of the conductors leading to the rst code register ||0. Conductor ||6 is connected to the route relays of the first bank shown, all of which are identied by the hundreds digit 2.

Therefore, with the registers of Fig. 1 set for the code 259, +80 volts is connected over conductor |39 to the control anodes of tubes 209 to 299 While ground is connected over conductor H6 through the route relays to the cathodes of these tubes. Thus current Will ow in the control gaps of all ten of these tubes but this current is insuicient to operate any one of the route relays. No current will flow in the tubes of this level in the other banks since the cathode circuits of such tubes are open.

Finally, conductor applies +130 volts to the anodes of tubes 250 to 259, but since only in the tube 259 is control gap current owing,

therefore, in only tube 259 can there be a transfer of discharge from the control to the main gap and only route relay |50 can operate.

With the route relay operated, the marker connects with the trunk and oice links through the oiiice link connector |05, tests for an idle trunk and, having found one, for an idle channel, and completes the local connection all as described in the above-identiiied Carpenter patent.

Referring now to Fig. 3, relay 3|0 represents the first code register which in accordance with the registration applies -130 volt battery to one of eight conductors, for example conductor 3I2, relay 320 represents the second code register Which connects 48 volt battery to one of ten conductors, for example conductor |325, While relay 330 represents the third code register which applies ground to one of ten conductors such as conductor 339.

This modiied form of translator is based on the use of ten anode cold cathode tubes so that only eighty tubes are required as compared with the eight hundred tubes used in the translator of Fig. 2. A route relay is connected to each of the ten anodes of each tube, providing eight hundred routes.

In accordance With the setting of the code register 3H), a negative potential of |30 Volts Will be applied to a conductor such as conductor 3|2 and thence to the cathodes of the ten tubes in one vertical row, conductor 3|2 being connected to the first row which corresponds to a hundreds digit 2. Similarly, the registration of the second or tens code digit will apply -48 volts to the control electrodes lying in the corresponding horizontal row. Conductor 325, for example, extends to the middle horizontal row of tubes shown.

There will thus be about 80 volts across the control gap of one tube only, the one lying at the intersection of the vertical and horizontal rows marked by the hundreds and tens code digits respectively, that is, tube 349. The control gap in tube 340 will, therefore, break down and current Will flow from volt battery over the contact of code register relay SIU, conductor 3|2, resistance 343, from control electrode 344 to cathode 34|, resistance 342, conductor 325, over the contact of code register relay y320 to -48 volt battery.

The connection of ground to conductor 339 grounds the Winding of the route relay connected With the correspondingly numbered anode in each of the eighty tubes. Since the control gap in tube 349 only is conducting, the main gap, from cathode 34| to anode 345, becomes conducting, operating route relay 345 to control the extension of the connection over the corresponding route.

What is claimed is:

1. In a telephone system, a plurality of registers, means for setting said registers in accordance with the designations of telephone exchanges, a plurality of route relays, means for operating said route relays in accordance with the setting of said registers comprising a plurality of coordinately arranged gas-iilled tubes each tube having at least three electrodes, means for applying a potential to one electrode of each tube lying along one coordinate of said arrangement in accordance with the setting of one of said registers, means for applying potential to a second electrode of the tubes lying along one of the other coordinates of said arrangement in accordance With the setting of the second of said registers, and means for preparing a circuit for a plurality of said route relays in series with a potential applied to a third electrode of a predetermined number of said tubes in accordance with the setting of a third of said registers, one of said route relays operating in response to the simultaneous application of said potentials, and means under the control of the operated route relay to cause the establishment of a telephonic connection.

2. In a telephone system, a plurality of registers, means for setting said registers in accordance with designations of telephone exchanges, a plurality of route relays, means for operating said route relays in accordance with the setting of said registers comprising a plurality of banks of coordinately arranged gas-lled tubes each tube having at least three electrodes, means for applying a potential to one electrode of each tube lying along one coordinate in each bank in accordance with the setting of one of said registers, means for applying potential to a second electrode of the tubes lying along the other coordinate in each bank in accordance with the setting of the second of said registers, and means for applying potential through a route relay to the third electrode of each tube in a bank in accordance with the setting of the third of said registers, one of said route relays operating in response to the simultaneous application of said potentials, and means under the control of the operated route relay to cause the establishment of a telephonie connection.

3. In a telephone system, a plurality of registers, means for setting said registers in accordance with the designations of telephone exchanges, a plurality of route relays, means for operating said route relays in accordance with` the setting of said registers comprising a bank of coordinately arranged gas-filled tubes, each tube having at least three electrodes, means for applying a potential to one electrode of each tube lying along one coordinate of said bank in accordance with the setting of one of said registers, means for applying potential to a second electrode of the tubes lying along the other coordinate of said bank in accordance with the setting of the second of said registers, means for applying potential ythrough a route relay to one other electrode in each tube in accordance with the setting of the third of said registers, one of said route relays operating in response to the simultaneous application of said potentials, and means under the control of the operated route relay to cause the establishment of a telephonic connection.

4. In a telephone system, a plurality of registers, means for setting said registers in accordance with the designations of telephone exchanges, a plurality of route relays, means for operating said route relays in accordance with the setting of said registers comprising a bank of coordinately arranged gas-filled tubes, each tube having a cathode, a control electrode and ten anodes, means for applying a potential to the control electrode of each tube lying along one coordinate of said bank in accordance with the setting of one of said registers, means for applying potential to a cathode of the tubes lying along the other coordinate of said bank in accordance with the setting of the second of said registers, means for applying potential through a route relay to one anode in each tube in accordance with the setting of the third of said registers, one of said route relays operating in response to the simultaneous application of said potentials, and means under the control of the operated route relay to cause the establishment of a telephonic connection.

5. In a telephone system, a plurality of registers, means for setting said registers in accordance with designations of telephone exchanges, a plurality of route relays, means for operating said route relays in accordance with the setting of said registers comprising a plurality of banks of coordinately arranged gas-filled tubes, each tube having a cathode, an anode and a control electrode, means for applying a potential of +130 volts to the anode of each tube lying along one coordinate of each bank in accordance with the setting of one of said registers, means for applying a potential of volts to the control electrode of the tubes lying along the other coordinate in each bank in accordance with the setting of the second of said registers, and means for applying ground through a route relay to the cathode of each tube in a bank in accordance with the setting of the third of said registers, one of said route relays operating in response to the simultaneous application of said potentials, and means under the control of the operated route relay to cause the establishment of a telephonic connection.

6. In a telephone system, a plurality of registers, means for setting said registers in accordance with the designations of telephone exchanges, a plurality of route relays, means for operating said route relays in accordance with the setting of said registers comprising a plurality of coordinately arranged gas-filled tubes each tube having at least three electrodes, means for applying a potential to one electrode of each tube lying along one coordinate plane of said arrangement in accordance with the setting of one of said registers, means for applying potential to a second electrode of the tubes lying along one of the other coordinate planes of said arrangement in accordance with the setting of the second of said registers, and means for preparing a circuit for a plurality of said route relays in series with a potential applied to a third electrode of the tubes lying in the third coordinate plane in accordance with the setting of a third of said registers, one of said route relays operating in response to the simultaneous application of said potentials, and means under the control of the operated route relay to cause the establishment of a telephonic connection.

FRANCIS A. HUBBARD. 

